Margaret Thatcher haters had an official card

In the 1970s and 1980s, as the late Margaret Thatcher ruled as the "Iron Lady" Prime Minister, her nation was often rocked by disasters: confrontation with the Irish Republican Army, the Lockerbie bombing, and others.

Thatcher, whose Conservative policies on the economy and foreign affairs made her as many enemies as admirers, often visited the injured and sick on hospital tours.

She was not the most convincing of humanitarians. Instead of hugging, nestling or squatting, eye-to-eye, beside the sufferer of the moment, claiming to feel their pain, Mrs Thatcher preferred to pay tribute to the emergency services, then offer individual patients some bracing, can-do encouragement. After the Clapham crash, for example, she assured one survivor, 'I am sure if the doctors say it will be all right, it will be all right'. Still, Mrs Thatcher spoke from experience. She had survived the Brighton bombing. The jeering which followed her hospital tours may have had less to do with her stiffness, than the feeling that Mrs Thatcher was, as per usual, trespassing on royal territory. It was for the Queen, not this partisan harridan, to lead the country in a united expression of horror or sympathy.

In the hours following her death, Britons dug out their Thatch-Cards, many posting them online, accompanied by essays wrestling with the complicated emotions they might feel for her death.

Many aren't comfortable openly celebrating the death of a person whose policies they detested.

"These days, with the passing of time, the fading of memory, and the spirit of de mortuis nil nisi bonum [speak no ill of the dead], I feel guilty about all that hate," wrote Slate editor June Thomas, who said she carried a Thatch-Card from the 1970s. "This morning when I heard the news, after decades of dutifully shifting the darned thing from wallet to wallet, I finally retired the Thatchcard."

The Thatch-Cards came from Private Eye, the satirical current affairs magazine.

United Press International is a leading provider of news, photos and information to millions of readers around the globe via UPI.com and its licensing services.

With a history of reliable reporting dating back to 1907, today's UPI is a credible source for the most important stories of the day, continually updated - a one-stop site for U.S. and world news, as well as entertainment, trends, science, health and stunning photography. UPI also provides insightful reports on key topics of geopolitical importance, including energy and security.

A Spanish version of the site reaches millions of readers in Latin America and beyond.

UPI was founded in 1907 by E.W. Scripps as the United Press (UP). It became known as UPI after a merger with the International News Service in 1958, which was founded in 1909 by William Randolph Hearst. Today, UPI is owned by News World Communications.